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Researchers working on the Western state precision agriculture water research project include, from left, University of California, Davis specialists Jedediah Roach, project director Shrini Upadhyaya (seated), Francisco Rojo, Rajveer Dhillon, and Han Changjie.

Drivers passing by the 200-acre Nickels Soil Lab research farm in Arbuckle, Calif., might wonder if Big Brother is watching as a small drone helicopter with a camera sometimes flies above the tree line in the experimental almond and walnut orchards.

Big Brother is not at work. Instead, precision agriculture specialists are developing the latest technology to find future solutions for crop water-challenged growers in Western U.S. agriculture.

At the project’s core is discovering solutions for ever tightening and costly water supplies in the West and how cutting-edge technologies can help specialty crop growers produce more crop with less water.

Shrini Upadhyaya is the project leader and a machinery systems engineering professor at the University of California, Davis (UC Davis) in Davis.

The project addresses a very challenging task, Upadhyaya says. In the next 10 years, the challenge is to produce 21 percent more food with about 17 percent less water, according to some experts.

The challenge is part of the overall need to feed a burgeoning global population expected to jump from about 7 billion people today to more than 9 billion people by 2050.

The three-year precision agriculture project is funded through a $2.59 million USDA specialty crops grant. It draws the expertise of precision technology specialists in five western states. Five universities are involved, including UC Davis, the University of Arizona, New Mexico State University, Oregon State University, and Washington State University.

Researchers from these institutions - plus Trimble, Veris Technologies, AgInformatics, and other commercial businesses - are among the 24 project investigators, plus support researchers.

The project, soon to enter its third year, is designed to improve canopy and water management in almonds, walnuts, pecans, and grapes, plus other specialty crops in the future. The emphasis involves the latest developments in precision agriculture technology.

“The long-term goal of this project is to establish the basis for precise management of specialty crops at levels currently unattainable with satellite-based and aerial sensing,” Upadhyaya says.

In the area of water management, the objective is to determine precisely how much water plants truly need and then implement a targeted irrigation regime to deliver exact amounts of water while also boosting yields.

Discuss this Article 1

Water supply is a major factor in agriculture and farming. This project is designed to improve water management in various crops like almonds, walnuts, grapes etc. It is important to know how much water plants need for their growth and development. The objective is to determine how much water plants truly need and then a targeted irrigation regime can be made.Kelp fertilizer